A lethal toxin, found in blood samples of Taiwan restaurant customers suffering from food poisoning, has also been found in stool samples of a chef from the establishment.
The toxin is suspected to be responsible for the deaths of two customers after eating char kway teow from Polam Kopitiam.
In early March 2017, public health and regulatory officials in several states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes(Listeria) infections. Investigators used epidemiologic evidence and laboratory results from the PulseNet system to identify case patients who were part of the outbreak. Eight people infected with outbreak strain of Listeria were reported from four states, New York, Connecticut, Vermont and Florida. The Florida case had traveled to New York in the month before illness onset. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) performed on clinical isolates from all 8 case-patients showed that the isolates were closely related genetically, providing strong support that illnesses were linked to a common source.
A cheese company linked to an E. coli outbreak in the United Kingdom has been allowed to restart sales of products.
Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire Cheese can resume selling batches of five raw milk cheeses made on or after Oct. 1, 2023. This includes the mild, creamy, tasty, mature, and smoked Lancashire varieties, plus Waitrose and Partners, Farmhouse Kirkham’s Lancashire Cheese.
However, any of these cheeses put on the market up to and including Feb. 5, 2024, should not be eaten and must be returned to the place of purchase for a refund.
There are now 36 cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O145 linked to the outbreak, up from 30 in an earlier update. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Scotland (PHS), and other agencies are investigating the incident.
Sick people live in England, Wales and Scotland. They fell ill from late July 2023, with the majority in December and all had symptom onset before Dec. 24, 2023.
Of 19 people with information available, a dozen reported bloody diarrhea, and 11 have been hospitalized. One person developed haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and another died.
For 30 cases where information is known, 15 are female, and 15 are male, with ages ranging from 7 to 81 and a median of 35 years old.
Recalled dairy products and products made with recalled dairy products sold under the brand names:
Retailer names where product was sold unbranded as taco kits and meals:
More information about recalled products, including descriptions, sizes, and UPCs or “best by” dates are included in the table of recalled products below. Additional information is also available in the recall notices from the companies.
FDA has been notified of additional companies who have issued public notifications or recalls for products linked to the Rizo-Lopez Foods, Inc. dairy recall that were sold at retail locations. Products from the following announcements have been added to the table of recalled products below.
On 2/9/2024 and 2/10/2024, The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) updated their public health alert to include additional products made with or containing recalled dairy products from Rizo Lopez Foods, Inc.
More information about recalled products, including descriptions, sizes, and UPCs or “best by” dates are included in the table of recalled products below. Additional information is also available in the recall notices from the companies.
Case Count Map Provided by CDC
In the United States, the Salmonella Sundsvall outbreak linked to cantaloupe from Mexico has been declared over. The outbreaks sickened 407 people in 44 states. Six deaths were reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported the outbreak on November 17.
Of the 362 patients with information available, 158 were hospitalized.
Canadian officials have posted their final update on the Salmonella outbreak traced to cantaloupe, adding two deaths to the toll. There were 190 laboratory-confirmed cases of Salmonella Soahanina, Sundsvall, Oranienburg, and Newport illnesses associated with the nationwide outbreak. Sixty-eight patients were hospitalized, and nine died.
Read more at the link above.
In the United States a total of 407 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella were reported from 44 states: Of 362 people with information available, 158 (44%) were hospitalized. Six deaths were reported.
In Canada a total, 190 laboratory-confirmed cases of Salmonella Soahanina, Sundsvall, Oranienburg, and Newport illness were linked to this outbreak. Sixty-eight (68) individuals were hospitalized, and nine deaths were reported.
All recalls that resulted from this investigation are listed on FDA’s cantaloupe recall website. Recalled cantaloupes are no longer available for sale and the use-by dates have passed.
One person has died in the UK and 30 cases of illness confirmed following an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O145 identified through the analysis of whole genome sequencing (WGS) data.
A person in Scotland has died from E. coli, following an outbreak of the bacterial infection in the UK linked to cheese.
Health experts warned a few days ago that some products in the Mrs Kirkham’s range might be contaminated and should be recalled as a precaution.
It is not clear yet whether the death was caused by food.
Officials say investigations are continuing into any common links between cases and the recalled cheeses.
Posted in Death, food death, Foodborne Illness Death, STEC, STEC E.coli
A genomic cluster of Listeria monocytogenes sequence type (ST) 155, serogroup IIa, infections has been identified in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK). Based on genomic similarity, the cluster can be divided into three sub‐clusters, of which only cases due to sub‐cluster 1 continue to be reported. Sub‐cluster 1 is therefore the focus of this assessment, with 64 cases reported in five EU/EEA countries between 2016 and 2023, of which 17 were in 2022 and 2023 (one in Austria, one in Belgium, eight in Italy, six in Germany, and one in the Netherlands). It includes 10 fatal cases between 2019 and 2023. Sub‐clusters 2 and 3 are historical, with 30 cases reported between 2011 and 2021. Based on case interviews, ready‐to‐eat (RTE) fish products have been implicated as vehicles of infection.
National food investigations, traceability, and genomic data identified 34 L. monocytogenes isolates from 12 fish products and one isolate from a fish processing environment within sub‐cluster 1. Sequencing analysis identified a link with two processing plants in Lithuania. In 2022–2023, contaminated fish products from these plants had reached retail markets in Germany and Italy, but there was no information on the product distribution in the other three countries reporting cases. The recurrent detection of the sub‐cluster 1 strain from marketed sealed RTE fish products revealed the persistence of the strain in one processing plant over eight years.
Further targeted investigation in the RTE fish production chain is needed to identify the point(s) of contamination. The interruption of the production of RTE fish products in one of the processing plants is likely to reduce infections, but until all sources and sites of contaminations are properly controlled new cases are expected to occur, particularly among vulnerable people (the immunosuppressed and those aged over 75 years).
FoodWorld 